The advancement of female entrepreneurs represents a £250bn opportunity for the UK economy.

But without more women in business, the UK is losing out. According to a new government-backed review by Alison Rose, CEO of commercial and private banking at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, boosting female entrepreneurship could add this £250bn to the economy.

Currently, female entrepreneurs are underrepresented in many sectors such as manufacturing, IT, financial services and transportation.

The government-commissioned Rose Review examines the barriers women in business face and what can be done to overcome them.

The Rose Review recommends increasing funding for women who want to start a business and providing greater family care support so they can reach their goals.

The UK is the start-up capital of Europe, attracting more venture capital than any other European country, yet only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female. In comparison with 15% of women in Canada, almost 11% of women in the US, and over 9% of women in Australia and the Netherlands, only 5.6% of UK women run their own companies.

“We need the creativity and innovation that comes from diversity to keep up with the rapidly changing world around us”

This event is aimed at majority women owned businesses; those that are minimum 51% owned by one or more women, who provide products and services in the following sectors:
Marketing, HR, Recruitment, Catering, Training, Advertising, Merchandise, Events, Corporate Services, Logistics, Facilities Management, Legal and Technology.

Agenda10:00 Registration and arrival10:30 Welcome from Ulster Bank and WEConnect International10:40 Update from WEConnect International and 30-second business introductions11:20 Creative Thinking and Rapid Prototyping workshop delivered by Ulster Bank
The way we think and how we react in Business can be extremely important. With a ‘Growth Mind Set’ and the ability to have a strategic thought process can really support those challenges faced. This session will give a brief overview of these two skills and how to act and think differently.12:40 Lunch and networking13:45 Connect with your Audience through Online Video Marketing – presented by Janet Beck from GlassEye Productions, a certified women-owned business. Everyone’s talking about online video! It is the NOW of content marketing? Online video is changing the way businesses are connecting with audiences, leaving lasting impressions and converting them to customers. But how can you make it work for your business and create memorable content experiences. This session will introduce you to how to go about creating good online video content, what video marketing tools you can use to get a campaign started and how to optimise your videos for lead generation and conversion14:00 Q&A panel discussion – challenges and opportunities around growing your business.14:5014:50 Closing remarks15:00 Further networking at a local venue (pay as you go)

If you can’t make this date or location, we will be running similar events with NatWest in a number of cities across the UK in the coming months: Manchester (4th December 2019), Cardiff (Tuesday 11th February 2020), Glasgow (Tuesday 24th March 2020). Do let us know if you are interested in these events.